Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
Music by Claude Debussy
Libretto after Maurice Maeterlinck’s play
World premiere Salle Favart, Paris, April 20, 1902
Claude Debussy’s wrote of this opera:“The drama of “Pelléas” which, despite its dream-like atmosphere, contains far more humanity than those so-called 'real-life documents,' seemed to suit my intentions admirably. In it there is an evocative language whose sensitivity could be extended into music and into the orchestral scenery-setting.”
Pelléas et Mélisande is set in a demi-world of castles and forests and a crown floating at the bottom of a stream, while lighthouses guide ships out to sea. A strange alliance between a lost girl and an older man, whose jealousy of his brother’s simple and childlike relationship with his wife causes the story to turn tragic. A triumph of symbolistic theater, it is the atmospheric impressionistic music of Debussy that illuminates the characters and underscores their humanity.
Presented in the original French, with English supertitles.
| Performer(s) Daniel Beckwith, music director |
Ticket Info $20 adults, $15 students/seniors Box Office:609-921-2663 | Date(s) Friday, April 30, 2010 |
Location(s) The Playhouse |
